Jude the Obscure
by Thomas Hardy
- Reading level
- Easy
- Price
- Free
About the book
"Jude the Obscure" by Thomas Hardy is a novel published in 1895. It follows Jude Fawley, a working-class stonemason who dreams of becoming a scholar at Christminster. His ambitions become entangled with his passionate but troubled relationship with his cousin, Sue Bridehead. Through failed marriages, social ostracism, and personal tragedy, the novel explores the crushing weight of Victorian society's institutions—particularly marriage, religion, and class barriers—on those who dare to defy convention.
- Adultery
- Didactic fiction
- Love stories
- Illegitimate children
- Wessex (England)
- Stonemasons
Updated September 2026. Public domain in the USA. Text and summary from Project Gutenberg eBook #153. Jude the Obscure on Wikipedia.
